A Hellenistic Ethical Lexicon

How might it be possible to frame rules of conduct in an international context that lacks a system of law capable of obliging states to fulfill their obligations and keep their promises? The ancient Hellenistic world, as Professor Doron Mendels masterfully illustrates in this original book, provides important elements for a response to this question. Drawing on three ancient historians and an ancient political thinker, the author retrieves the core doctrines of an ethical code elaborated over the course of a long historical period. This code, as he illustrates, prescribes rules of ethical conduct for political leaders necessary to insure the stability of states through the maintenance of orderly interstate relations. Far from abstract theoretical formulations, Professor Mendels convincingly demonstrates that the different precepts of this code were actively engaged in the political life of the Hellenistic period. Professor Mendels' analyses in this book vibrantly illustrate ways in which ancient political attitudes and concepts retain a vital importance for contemporary understanding in the fields of history and of political thought. * Jeffrey Andrew Barash, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Amiens, France *
The book extracts from four Hellenistic sources on history and political theory a collection of strikingly civilized ethical precepts of good governance and interstate intercourse, based on ideas of reciprocity and enlightened self-interest. To a general reader, it is remarkable how such ancient ideas, that provided an intellectual foundation for international law, are still today honoured in their breach rather than in their observance. * Celia Fassberg, Judge Harry M. Fisher Professor of Private International and Inter-Religious Law, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel *
Every institution must respond and adapt to new selective pressures – emanating from the four basic lines of production, reproduction, regulation and distribution – in order to survive. Doron Mendels, a leading international scholar of the ancient Hellenistic and Jewish world, has written a new and enticing masterpiece. For the first time, Mendels addresses the question of morality in interstate relations in the context of Hellenistic empires. The monograph is essential reading for scholars of the ancient Mediterranean world during the Hellenistic period, as well as for anyone interested in cultural and social evolution, especially as it relates to empires and interstate relations. * Professor Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Aarhus University, Denmark *

Doron Mendels has created a list to end all lists. What a surprise: ethics and empire can go together! At least they did once, in the Hellenistic world. I can think of a few world leaders today who I’d love to have absorb this book. For instance: “A good king . . . acknowledges an interstate ethical code.” “A king should . . . be a gentleman.” “A king should not be arrogant.” “The king must always speak the truth to his subjects and none of them must ever suppose that the king speaks anything but the truth.” “The good king knows when forgiveness is preferable to revenge.” “A good king should avoid arbitrariness in afflicting punishments on his enemies.” Whether or not these maxims were anciently observed or not, their pithy wisdom, together with Mendel’s smart and instructive renderings of their historical settings, make for bracing reading. Alexander’s example continues to shine along with his would-be heirs in the tradition of philosopher-kings.

Mendels has convincingly shown an implied encounter of the two ethical sources of the Hellenistic and early Maccabean worlds. This book offers nothing less than a refresher course in the ethics of rule we so desperately need today.

* John Durham Peters, Yale University, USA *